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Congress finds funds for ongoing Great Lakes restoration

Congress is pressing ahead with a scaled-back version of the ongoing Obama administration's Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

A coalition of conservation groups welcomed the news this week that both the House and Senate had approved $300 million in the upcoming budget for the program that is focusing on cleaning up toxic hot spots, halting the onslaught of invasive species and restoring sensitive areas such as wetlands. The budget bill is expected to be signed into law by President Barack Obama in the coming days.

The $300 million for the program's third year is about the same amount of federal money dedicated to the program this year, but well under the $475 million that was approved in the first year of what was designed to be a 10-year, $5 billion restoration plan for the world's largest freshwater system.

"The 2012 budget represents a significant victory for the millions of people who depend on the Great Lakes for their drinking water, jobs and way of life," said Jeff Skelding, campaign director for the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition, which represents dozens of environmental groups across the region

The group also reported that Congress had set aside nearly $1.5 billion to help states across the country deal with chronic sewage overflows. The Great Lakes region is expected to receive about a third of that, and the coalition reported that, based on an existing federal formula, Wisconsin should receive about $40 million for that program.

The coalition added that Congress opted not to approve an amendment to the spending bill that would have required the Army Corps of Engineers to speed up its ongoing study on how prevent unwanted species such as Asian carp from migrating between the Mississippi River basin and Great Lakes. That study is not expected to be completed until 2015 at the earliest.

About Dan Egan

Dan Egan is a reporter covering the Great Lakes. His reporting on invasive species and other issues has won numerous awards. He is a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist for explanatory reporting, in 2010 and 2013.

Great Lakes Coverage

Toledo, Ohio — Lake Erie will see one of the most severe toxic algae outbreaks in recent years this summer, a year after toxins contaminated the drinking water for 400,000 people in northwestern Ohio and southeastern Michigan, researchers predicted Thursday.

Scientists who issued their forecast for the lake think this year's algae bloom could be second only to one in 2011, when the algae stretched more than 100 miles from Toledo to Cleveland.

Heavy rains across northern Ohio over the past month have washed huge amounts of algae-feeding phosphorus into the lake.